“Ut Impleretur Instauratio”: The Inaugural Encyclical of Pope Gregory XVII (A Thought Experiment)

If the Church is one day blessed with a fully traditional pope, what might he do upon taking the Chair of St. Peter?

Preliminary note

Over the past several years, a loosely-organized group of friends and I, including clergy, have discussed from time to time what steps a pope will someday need to take in order to clean up the vast corruption in the Church, to correct rampant errors, and to restore tradition in its full integrity.

One day, a priest as brilliant as he is hidden from the public eye drew up for me an outline of the ideal pope’s inaugural encyclical — as if to challenge me to write out the text in the grand manner of the great popes of Christendom. Not one to resist a challenge like that, I took up my pen and got down to work… until Ut Impleretur Instauratio, the full text of which follows below, was completed.

Now, I fully recognize that to some readers, this exercise may appear ridiculous or quixotic. And perhaps it is. But I see it as an expression of ardent faith, of hope for better days, of zeal for the reform and renewal of the Church that I love with all my heart. It is, if you will, a pious fiction portraying a better future. To give credit where credit is due, some of its specific ideas are drawn from the “Open Letter to the Cardinals” that was published this past April 30.

Of course, I do not expect such an encyclical, or even anything remotely like it, to emerge at this time, but I think it is only a matter of time before the issues dealt with here, in imaginary form, will be — must be — dealt with by a pope of flesh and blood. Without further ado, then…

1. “That the repairs of the house of the Lord might be completely finished, and wheresoever there was need of expenses to uphold the house”: such is the description offered, in the fourth Book of Kings, about the praiseworthy intention of a king of Jerusalem who insisted that ever-needed but long-delayed repairs on the temple of God should be attended to most urgently, giving to the Lord His due. Moreover, far from “razing the bastions,” it is time now eagerly to rebuild the fallen walls of the City of God on earth, imitating the conduct of the rebuilders of Jerusalem: “Those who carried burdens were laden in such a way that each with one hand labored on the work and with the other held his weapon” (Neh 4:17).

Introduction

2. Both the salvation of souls and truthfulness require Us to state honestly, and indeed openly, that the Church has been in deep crisis for decades, with disturbing signs of disintegration, chaos, corruption, and confusion across much of the Catholic world for an extended period. Well might one apply to our situation the words of Nahum: “Thy shepherds have slumbered . . . thy people are hid in the mountains, and there is none to gather them together. Thy destruction is not hidden, thy wound is grievous” (Nah 3:18–19). The time has come to confront this deeply troubling state of affairs, and for Us to propose remedies that will, God willing, begin to regenerate Christian life on the face of the earth.

3. Our Lord has left to His Church all that she needs to triumph over any obstacle. “For the earth of itself bringeth forth fruit, first the blade, then the ear, afterwards the full corn in the ear” (Mk 4:28). The collapse of the Church in all her ancient strongholds therefore results less from external opposition than from the failure of those within rightly to use the means of grace. An English historian has observed: “Nothing can reinvigorate itself or snatch itself from decay save by a return upon itself and a recapture of its own past.” Especially must this be true of the Catholic Church, directly founded as she was by a divine act: “Look unto the rock whence you are hewn” (Is 51:1).

4. We may learn a lesson from Bernini’s sculptural support for the relics of St. Peter’s Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica, which teaches a perfect theological lesson. The chair is held aloft by the Church Fathers, showing what its support must be—the perennial and traditional teaching of the Church; it is set behind the main altar, showing that Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass takes precedence; it sits below the kingdom of heaven, where the saints and angels occupy a higher place, to which earthly concerns are subordinated; and lastly, the Holy Spirit radiates light for those willing to cooperate with Him. All too often the primacy of Divine Truth has been sacrificed to political programs, worldly notions of “unity,” temporary pastoral expedients and false notions of aggiornamento. At this dramatic moment in history We fully recommit Ourselves and the entire Church on earth to the one Way, the one Truth, and the one Life, Jesus Christ, knowing that without Him We can do nothing (cf. Jn 15:5), and that no one comes to the Father but through Him (cf. Jn 14:6).

5. In the remainder of this letter we shall, with God’s assistance, address: I. The Divine Cult; II. Salvation Only in Christ; III. Dogma and Errors Opposed to It; IV. The Second Vatican Council; V. Divine Worship and the Sacraments; VI. Sacred Art and Christian Culture; VII. The Papal Office and the Church’s Hierarchy; VIII. Seminaries and Education; IX. Religious Life; X. Marriage and Family; XI. Canon Law; XII. The Causes of Saints; XIII. The Christian Commonwealth.

I. The Divine Cult

6. Divine Revelation teaches us clearly and plainly that there is one true God and Him alone must we serve, shunning all idolatry. The first of all obligations is to believe God and all He has revealed; the first divine commandment is to worship the Lord in holiness. These are likewise the Church’s first obligation and the first work of religion inflamed by charity.

7. This one true God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, co-equal in majesty and divinity. Through Christ and for Christ the Son of God were all things made (Col 1:16, Jn 1:3, Heb 1:2). He is Lord and King of all. He is the one and only Redeemer and Savior of mankind, the one Mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5), “neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Act 4:12).

8. In order to be saved, it is necessary to believe in and welcome the offer of salvation that God has made. This means coming to faith in Jesus Christ. For this reason, Jews cannot be saved by keeping the Mosaic law without acknowledging Christ. For its part, Islam is designed to fight against Christianity: “This is Antichrist, who denieth the Father and the Son” (1 Jn 2:22). Finally, all worship of idols is worship of demons and is hateful to God.

9. Hence, We solemnly condemn any and all veneration of idols, regardless of the purported good intentions of those who take part in such ceremonies. As the Lord says about all vicious conduct, “let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief. Be ye not therefore partakers with them. For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord. Walk then as children of the light” (Eph 5:6-8). “They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God, they have provoked me to anger with their vanities” (Deut 32:21).

10. In particular, We condemn and repudiate the veneration of the Pachamama and kindred events that took place during the reign of Our unhappy predecessor Francis, and not without his participation, which the Holy Church of God execrates.